>> ben fee: jennifer and will were horribly shaken. it was so surreal and shocking. i stepped closer and juan interrupted me and he, he grabbed me and said don't, don't come closer please. >> sandra wright: my son to this day and my daughter-in-law both feel that they are glad that they were there to take care of things and also to see him and and feel his body and so that it was very, very real. hunter s. thompson died at five forty-five p.m. february 20th, 2005.

he was sixty-seven years old. >> sandra wright: he was born a genius and he was born with that charisma and he was also born with that tortured soul and where that comes from, i don't know.

[ music ] >> bill: hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? here we are on this wednesday, march 13th. great to see you today. it is the full court press. we are coming to you life from our nation's capitol. a lot going on here. a lot going on rome, too, where we are still waiting for a little white smoke to appear from the cis. ine chapel as prop that the cardinals have selected the 266th or elected, i guess, the 266th pope of the roman catholic

church. meanwhile, here in our nation's capitol, president obama trips up to capitol hill. he meets with senate republicans he will meet with house republicans which will be a total waste of time because we know the house replubicans are going to automatically endorse the paul ryan budget which was revealed yesterday. this year's paul ryan budget exact copy of the last two paul ryan budgets. it guts medicaid turns medicare into a voucher program. it gives the wealthiest of americans yet another tax break and it repeals obamacare. it will get passed by the house. it will go nowhere in the senate. it is dead on arrival. but the republicans keep putting this out there. we will tell you about that and, of course, take your calls and get you a chance to get involved in the conversation. give us a call on our toll-free line at 866-557-7377.

did we tell you? it looks like there was life on mars. whoa! coming up on current tv. [ music ] (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld.

>> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. [ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: the dow hits another record yesterday. it just keeps going up and up and up and up. good morning everybody. yes. wednesday, march 13th. wow. so good to see you today. you are looking good. thanks for joining us here on the "full-court press" as we come to you live across this great country of ours coast to coast, from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. bringing you the news of the day

and whether it's happening here our in our nation's capitol around the globe, wherever it's happening, we are there. we are there for you to tell you what's going on to give you a chance to talk about it. >> that's the fun of this program here for the next three hours. you can weigh in at any time and tell us what these issues mean to you and to your family. 866-55-press is our toll-free number. 866-557-7377. put it on your automatic dial there so you can join, you know get in right away. love to hear from you where you happen to be by phone or online talk to us on twitter@bt show. >> that's our twitter handle @bt show. friend us on facebook at facebook.com/billpress show. more and more of you do every day. if you follow us on twitter, get my tweets.

you will get my tweets from the white house briefing room and my take on what's going on in the briefing room, both the questions being asked by reporters and the answers or non-answers being given by jay carney. what do you say? great to see you today and to say hello to you and to our team here, team press peter okaygburn and dan henning. >> happy wednesday >> bill: with phil backert on the phones waiting for your calls and cytrian boulding keeping us alive on current tv. we are coming to you on sirius xm only on your progressive talk radio station and, of course on current tv. and peter, check the smokecam >> peter: i have the smokecam up, a live static shot of the chimney on top of the vatican. as of right now it is inactive. >> bill: no smoke? >> peter: no smoke >> bill: black smoke last night. >> peter: >> can i suggest something to

the catholic church. >> bill: what if it comes up red smoke. what would they do if it's not black or white? or blue. >> purple smoke, you just won trince tickets but i don't know. >> one would think that the catholic church could be a little more green than pumping a plume of back smoke into the air. >> bill: putting chemicals in the smoke. >> peter: i don't understand. they burn the popes inside there. they burn the cardinals that don't make it. >> bill: the one who gets the least number of votes. >> peter: they burn them. that makes sense now. >> bill: you know what? if they were really up to date of course, they would just tweet it out. right? >> peter: really. there are now -- there is popealarm on twitter the second we get news. >> bill: but nobody -- you know nobody in the cis.tcistene chapel

has that. they should have a neon sign or a ball drop. >> exactly. >> bill: anyhow, but let's say you were the guy who was starting to get votes were starting to roll up for you you know, and it looks like you might become the pope as was told to scott pelley on cbs news, you would be really crapping your pants. >> i don't believe that any one of them is standing up tonight and saying here i am. several of them i know who are the so-called leaders of the group are scared. pel pelley: what. >> to be the leader of a world religion in a world that's constantly changing in a church that suffered much over the past years because of difficulties and scandals a government that the church that needs some

adjusting at present, you know, that's no secret. so anyone who is going to come into this job knows what's before him on the table. >> bill: needs some adjusting. in other words, the catholic church is in bad shape these days. anyway walking into it will walk into a bloody mess a lot of lawsuits, owing a lot of money. and the sexual abuse -- priest abuse problem, scandal continues. just yesterday, in los angeles the diocese agreed to pay $10 million in fines to four victims of sexual abuse on the part of priests. sot this is not -- this is not over by any means. >> peter: no, not at all. and it's sickening and it's also so perfectly encapsulates what the problem is with the catholic church. as this pageant of excess is going on in the vatican meanwhile, they are paying $10 million to the cover-up and abuse of children.

>> bill: all right. so we will get into that this morning as well as a lot of other stuff and with the help of senator ben cardon of maryland joining us. eliot spitzer will be along this hour as he is on every wednesday morning. former governor of new york john nichols will be in studio with us as a friend of gill. and paul ryan out again yesterday with a totally worthless, meaningley budget. but first. >> this is the full court press. >> on this wednesday, other headlines making news, you know, we talk a lot about the problem of yetidentity theft. stressful day for some politicians when a russian based website posted personal data on line including credit report social security numbers, mortgages and other confidential information. u.s.a. today reports the people named that were hacked include michelle obama, joe biden, fbi director robert mueller.

hillary clinton, beyonce, paris hilton and a slew of other celebrities >> bill: it's amazing they would ever get that information. actually, it's not so amazing. you go online, you can find out. just google people. >> you can find out a lot. >> peter: i think the most disturbing part is if the anyone cares what harris hilton has going on her private life. >> iran is considering suing hollywood over the oscar winning movie "argo" saying it's portrayal of the country is unrealistic. cbs news reporting iranian authorities have hired a french attorney to figure out how and where to file this lawsuit. last month, the iranians dismissed the ben affleck picture as pro-cia, anti-iran. >> sue hollywood. >> good luck suing hollywood. >> twinkies are coming back.

abc reporting that two buy-out firms have teamed up to purchase the hostes brand and restore the iconic food to shelves. hohos and ding dongs have been gone since the hostess was shuterred. $10 million for the brand which include five bakeries plus their own. no word on how many of the 18,500 jobs that were lost will be able to to be hired back. >> bill: i can't wait until michael bloomberg gets a hold of that. he will not let it happen. the big news yesterday in washington, d.c., everybody was all atwitter over the paul ryan budget. love your take on it, too, at 866-55-press. this is no bucket. this is just a joke. this is a total, sick joke on the part of paul ryan. i mean, like where do you start with this budget?

it's worthless. it's a worthless document. the republicans can get it passed because all of the republicans will line up to vote for it. just like they lined up to vote for the last two ryan budgets. this is exactly the same. he didn't put any work in this budget. he used the xerox machine. he copied the damn thing. there is so much wrong with this budget. first of all, it is the same ol' budget meaning they have learned absolutely nothing from the election of 2012. >> that's are the same ideas that paul ryan, who was the vice presidential candidate, remember, ran on with mitt romney. american people rejected it overwhelmingly, and yet he's trotting out the same ol' crap again. and, of course, it's as bad as -- as the last budget in terms of its as harsh as the last budget. it cuts -- basically destroys medicaid by turning it over to the states and food stamps, turn them over to the states so the states can just drop these

programs. it turns medicare into a voucher program. we know and we all know what's wrong with that. it gives the wealthiest of americans another tax break. it lowers our taxes down to 25%. and it will repeals or would repeal obamacare. yeah. i mean it is just, in other words, give the wealthiest another tax break and take it out on the middle class and the poor. >> that's the ryan budget. and you know what? its phoney. it was totally, totally phony meaning -- yeah, he says he would balance the budget in 10 years. he repeals obama care which is not going to happen. i mean i could put out a budget. i could put out a bucket that says, hey, look at this. i just balanced the bucket. i got rid of the executive branch of government. there is my budget. there it is. look at it. >> peter: the budget is balanced. it's balanced on paper. it's bs. i could do that by saying i just got rid of the penta

goodeon. guess what. i balanced the budget. it's as realistic to say that as i balanced the budget because i got rid of obama care. i just don't get it. and by the way one other thing ryan is not -- not ashamed of steeling -- stealing ideas. you know, they fought and fought and fought letting the bush tax cuts expire. right? but now paul ryan takes credit for the money that we get from not having the bush tax cuts and that's in his budget. and you know that $716,000,000,000 in savings and medicare that president obama had already instituted and that mitt romney and paul ryan accused him of cutting medicare benefits by $716,000,000,000 which he didn't do those $716,000,000,000 in savings are part of the ryan budget. he is such a con artist. doesn't believe in anything. but here he is yesterday standing up and saying my budget is a balanced budget. this will give us a healthy

economy. >> balancing budgets is not just arithmetic. it is a means to an end. it's a means to a healthier economy, a pro-growth society, a pro-growth economy that delivers opportunity. >> bill: president obama is talking with george stephanopolous says, no, no, no, for paul ryan balancing the budget has become more important than doing the right thing for the american people. >> if you look at what paul ryan does to balance the budget it means that you have to voucherize medicare. you have to slash deeply into programs like medicaid. >> bill: jay carney pointed out yesterday in our briefing at the whitehouse that the other thing about the ryan budget is it is all spending cuts, all cut cut, cut, cut, cut. not one freaking penny of new revenue. >> have you looked at the ryan budget? can you find a single item of

tax reform, a single loophole closed? $5 trillion, $5 trillion, man. >> that's a lot of money. not one. >> bill: cuts 5 trillion, doesn't add one penny new revenue. it's totally unrealistic. here's what gets me 866-55-press. this just drives me crazy, that paul ryan in this town and maybe around the country, has a reputation, given him by the media of being a serious thinker. jay carney even called him a thought leader of the republican party. he is not a thought leader. he is a flim-flam artist. the stuff you read about paul ryan is embarrassing. i talk about a lot of it in my latest book, "the obama hate machine". >> available on the billpressshow.com. >> bill: here it is, time magazine said: he's the guy with the jet-black hair and a touch -- a touch of eagle scout to him. oh yes. >> hey ladies.

>> bill: they called him the congressman from wisconsin, here it is, quote with the piercing blue eyes. love for heavy metal on his ipod. >> please. >> bill: al reputation as a republican who has put forward budget ideas that are thoughtful and serious. joe klein called his last year's bucket, without question, an act of political courage. you know he was on morning joe last year, and chris lick, you know, who used to be joe's producer whispered in joe'ser, quote, i am in love. i mean give me a freakin break. get off of your man crush with paul ryan and look at his budget. he is no serious thinker. he is a con artist. he is a total con artist. he is like one of those t.v. preachers who sell nonsense and people by it because he is good-looking. he is the joel osteen of the republican party. >> nailed it. >> bill: i am telling you that's who he is. his budget is not for real.

it's nothing but fiscal mas. ur va. ion. it doesn't produce anything. it doesn't do anything. the budget is a joke and paul ryan is a con artist. 866-55-press, and any reporter who says that he is a serious thinker ought to be fired. what do you think? i have some strong feelings about this. 866-557-7377. >> this is "the bill press show." that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night?

is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern [ music ] >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour now. yeah, sort of like groundhog

day, as i said last night on the war room. michael shore host with paul ryan keeps coming back year after year after year after year. i thought -- i thought the republican party was a party of ideas. they don't have one new -- they don't have one new idea. not one right? this is the third budget in a row with all of the same cuts. all cuts gutting medicare gutting medicaid repealing obamacare, giving the wealthiest a cut. no new revenue. the "new york times" calls this the worst of the ryan budgets. peter, what's the word on twitter and facebook? >> peter: yes, sir, we are on twitter @btshow. >> news flash, you and paul ryan lost the election. mr. john john says the republicans remain out to lunch instead of creating a budget for

the masses of america. ryan is still brain dead and fred says, the mainstream media has spent 30 years giving credibility to extremists and the g.o.p. by calling them intellectuals and they continue to do it. >> bill: i don't get it. yesterday, same thing, they show -- nobody ought to take paul ryan -- he is like b 1 bob dornan used to be. he is a joke. right? and people understand that. nobody took bob dornan seriously. sonny bono could have put together a better budget from this. sharon calling from kingston, illinois. good morning. >> caller: every time i hear about paul ryan, i always think about, you know, the poor homeless shelters his wife doing dishes. they say he we want in there in 10 minutes and filmed it when nobody was around and the managers found out a half hour later. it was so cheesey. what i wanted to talk about was

bill o'reilly and his righteous anger show he had. there is no righteous anger. he had a fight with -- alan combs. >> he tried to justify it saying he had a show behind him that said raichous anger. he did a whole show or at least half the show about how he was righteous and saying his anger is good or whatever. i just want to say fox, you are a train wreck, and ratings, and they brag about ratings. it's a train wreck. no ratings at all. >> bill: sharon, well-said. yeah, righteous anger. anything o'reilly does is fake. he fikes it for the camera. >> that's what it is all about. unfortunately, too many people continue to fall for it. but you know what? >> a good point, sharon. also, i think paul ryan fikes it for the camera. and my embarrassment is that too many in the media fall for it. the guy is a phoney.

>> this is "the bill press show." >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

[ music ] >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv bill oh, boy, 33 minutes after the hour already here on a wednesday, march 13th. the full court press coming to you live from our nation's capitol brought to you today about the national education. appropriate getting up for school. think about the good nra under approximately dennis van rockyleal creating great public schools

for every student in america. tcpi out more about their good work at ner.org out there on the forefront of many issues today and always fighting for kids and for parents and teachers talking about paul ryan releasing his budget, dead on arrival. not one new idea in it. the camesame ol' crap as in last year's budget. all of which was rejected by american votesers in november of 2012. yet paul ryan is considered a hero, a serious thinker for putting forth this piece of crap. peter, what's going on? >> quick story from outside the belt wraifrnlths, bill. we talk a lot about the marijuana lawway, bill. we talk a lot about the marijuana law in an interview with the denver post nancy pelosi said the federal government should regulation expect the laws in colorado and

basically, let's stop fighting it. the people have spoken. they want recreational marijuana. she said the state has spoken. the law has been pass did. there aretion issues with taxation regulation and we need to get on with it. >> spoken like a true san francisan. if you believe in states' rights, that is the way to go. back to your calls and comments about paul ryan. first, a quick word. you have heard a lot about identity theft in the news lately. i saw this article that one of the things that criminals look for is a clean slate identity someone who has almost no profile. it's easier for them to steal their identity. they find that especially attractive by stealing the identity of kids children their social security numbers, birth certificatetive cats and

other information. it's all around us, identity theft. best to be protected against it as i am with lifelock ultimate the most comprehensive id theft protection ever made. lifelock can't protect you if you are not a member. my suggestion: call now. if you mentioned a press60, you will get 60 risk-free days of theft identity protection. if you are not happy, call them within another 60 days and cancel and get a full refund. give them a call at 180035967 for life lock ultimate. 18003565967. doris is in flint, michigan hey doris. how are you? >> hi, bill. i couldn't resist calling, talking about paul ryan. when joe klein responds in an awesome way as if that's a bold plan of ryan's, that makes me

think, would he have said that same thing in awe of the boldness of it osama bin laden of 911 or of hitler's plan for europe? would he have spoken that way of awe and called it bold? >> bill: yeah, i mean hez did i have in addition of "bold" is loose. it may be bold in the sense of crazy. right? or dangerous? or harmful to humanities. i guess under that definition you could include the paul ryan budget. >> caller: right. they ought to use the word horrific. >> bill: horrific would be a better word. maybe real. it's certainly not real. if it's not real, it's not bold. it is -- i wouldlike to use the word bs but there are so many words i can't say on the radio.

rosk roscoe, what so you say >> caller: good. >> bill: i am good >> caller: it was working on the computer when i heard you call my name. anyway, i just -- the budget we are talking about, i am not going to try to beat a dead horse into the ground. >> they are. >> that's what they are doing. they are beating a dead horse called we are going to repeal obama care going to keep all of the taxes and everything. we are going to let obama -- obama's policies solve the budget deficit policy over the next 10 years but we are going to take credit for it while we undo his policies. >> yeah. it doesn't make any sense. you know, as i mentioned the other day rosko, i appreciate hearing from you, this whole -- the entire obama plan. i'm sorry. ryan plan.

whoa. >> peter: careful. >> bill: the entire ryan plan subpoena premised on repealing obamacare. we know that's we know that's not going to happen. it's been in place. a lot of the program is fixed. people are joining up. people like it. the reviews about obama care where it's already kicked in are very, very positive. >> that's the number one reason it's not going to work. no. 2 is, to repeal it would have to go through the senate. the senate, the votes are not there. they are not going to repeal obamacare. number 3, the supreme court has weighed in and said obama care is totally, totally acceptable under the constitution totally legitmat. they have endorsed obamacare. john boehner even said, obama care is now the law of the land. so it's time to, like, move on forget about this pipe dream of repealing obama care and come up with some new ideas, another

approach to the budget. all right? they don't want any new revenue. but at least find some other spending cuts because antipolice care repeal obamacare is not going to happen. but paul ryan doesn't rework -- one other thing we could have is an election. it was mitt romney's signature issue. >> day one. >> he lost by 5 million votes. right? >> it honestly reads didn't come close. an onion article after republicans voted to repeople obama kay in the house dozens of times that the great fresh 33 times. >> yeah. after this great new fresh idea from one of the thought leaders in the g.o.p., to do something that didn't work for the past two years. >> right. >> three years. >> bill: so what do the american people think about it? very, very interesting. there was a maris.

poll that came out, a mcclashey maris. poll which some look at the approval rating of congress >> peter: breaking news. >> bill: breaking news. >> peter: we've got black smoke. >> we have the cameracan >> peter: i have it on on my computer although it's not as black. >> the catholics are polluting the environment. >> bill: no pope. >> peter: no pope right now. >> bill: what time is it in rome? six hour difference. >> five hours because we switched to daylight savings time. just before noon a morning vote. they vote four times. we will take a lunch break and we will see what happens this afternoon. as i was saying yesterday, there was a -- released a mcclashy maris. poll that will took an approval

rating rating. i am surprised it's this high. democrats have a 31% approval rating. republicans, a 26% approval rating. but very interesting by the way, president obama's approval rating is down now 30 to 45%. it was up about 55% for the state of the union for the inaugural address but now that the political bickering has started over the budget everything's ratings are down a little while. here is what i found most interesting in that poll: they asked people, would you vote to raise taxes? what would you rather do? raise taxes or cut medicare. okay? across the board 57% of americans said they would rather raise taxes than tut medicare. it was 57 over 36%. so paul ryan's not only put out a budget that doesn't add up. he's put out a budget that the

american people don't want. the american people want the wealthiest to the pay their fair share of taxes. they don't want them to get a tax break down to 25%. and the american people know you have to have new revenue and not just spending cuts and the american people want to protect medicare and medicaid and social security. that was the message last november: that's the message today with the latest maris. poll. obviously, paul ryan never learned anything. but you know what? he's got piercing blue eyes. oh. >> what a dreamboat >> bill: i am just in love with him. god, gag me with a spoon. released eliot spitzer next. >> live on your radio and current tv. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now.

(vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

oh this is lame, investors could

lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 401(k) to hidden fees. is that what you're looking for, like a hidden fee in your giant mom bag? maybe i have them... oh that's right i don't because i rolled my account over to e-trade where... woah. okay... they don't have hidden fees... hey fern. the junk drawer? why would they... is that my gerbil? you said he moved to a tiny farm. that's it, i'm running away. no, no you can't come! [ male announcer ] e-trade. less for us. more for you. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ music ]

>> this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey, there is so much going on this wednesday morning, man. i've got to tell you. and washington, again, seems flim-flamed by the flim-flam artist, paul ryan. i don't get it, why people give him credit for being such a serious thinker. this budget doesn't add up. whenever i get confused about what's going on, i turn to the man who sees right through all of this nonsense eliot petser former governor of new york. >> that was a nice lead-in thank you for that. i have heard you say the same thing about every other guest. but that's all right. >> bill: i don't get it. why does paul ryan have a

reputation for being sus a serious thinker. >> i am glad you raise it that way. everybody for years is satisfying, he is serious, a policy wonk. he has numbers that add up. they don't. they don't only not add up but they are base upon premises so false and been disproven so many times and at a political level rejected by the public that the wonder why is washington so desperate for somebody who pretends to be a serious thinker >> bill: i could balance the budget. here is my budget. i got rid of the executive branch of government. >> that's right. >> bill: that would be as realistic as saying i am repealing obama care and therefore, imbalancing the budget. >> he made his budget from two years ago worse. he shortened the time frame for his claim of balancing it. one of the insidious in there is block granting pedmedicaid to the states as though that will maintain a healthcare system and

impose cost control. it will increase the number of uninsured and destroy our healthcare system. those folks will have to get healthcare. i can tell you, they go to the emergency room. they get the care and those costs get pushed back through the entire system and you destroy the infrastructure of the healthcare system of every state if you do that. >> bill: there is an internal conflict here, obviously which is he is saying we will just send this will to the states as if the states have the money to keep it going and you have nine republican governors who said, no. we want that federal money 100% under obamacare to expand medicaid. >> that has byrne one of the more fascinating political shifts over the past couple of months. having gotten enough attention, the number of rabidly conservative republican governors who have embraced the medicaid expansion because that, certain ways was the most important part of obamacare in terms of expanding coverage. the political opposition, when judged by those who actually had

to do their own budget balancing at the state level said, yeah, we like it. that was a fascinating conversion on the part of scott and brewer. others it's been remarkable. >> bill: interesting hearing yesterday in front of the senate banking committee on the mary jo wright to head the sec. if i can u just a quick clip of her where she said she intends to be and she thinks the next head of the sec has to be a tough enforcer. here she is. >> if confirmed, it will be a high priority to strengthen the sec. it must be fair but it also must be bold and unrelenting >> bill: we haven't seen that. tough enforcement? have we? >> the opposite. the litmus test statement was eric holder. part of the justice department but independent but nonetheless, holder's statement that the big banks were too big to

prosecutor. >> to big to jail. >> an admission of what we all suspected but give him credit for the honesty even if the complete lack of integrity in terms of law enforcement. mary jo will have civil authority, not criminal but will she have the guts to impose real remedies? we focus on do they bring the case? the real issue is: what remedies do you seek and impose once you know that a goldman sachs has lied to its clients. do you say you are recidivis. s? we are saying you can no longer issue these kind of products boom. matters structurally i am waiting. mary jo is smart as can be has a ton of integrity. the question is: will she do it? >> do you know her and have good feelings about her ability to do this job? >> she is.

i knew harvey pitt chairman of the sec when i was attorney general. harvey was also smart, had integrity but you knew that he had internalized the defenses of the banks. yes have a good feeling he would be the bold enforcer. he wasn't. mary jo, i feel better about. she, having been a prosecutoror having done the organized crime cases but i think she does know what is expected of her at least by the public, whether it's expected from the white house is a different question. i have a good feeling about her. i think it's a wait-and-see attitude. >> bill: have you had your 16-ounce coca-cola yet this morning? >> i had a 32-ouncer. >> bill: good. >> i have got to tell you this thing somehow captured the zeitgeist of the public, can you ban these big cokes and this and

that? i was in new orleans and taking a cab in from the airport to tulane. i taught at class can james carg carville. an hour with james is like 10 hours with most people. he talks so fast and he is the raging cajun. >> the cab driver says what's up with your mayor trying to ban big drinks? he says down here we believe in freedom. >> whoa. you know what? here is the funny thing. he captured something. we can laugh about it, but the public kind of said, you know what? don't tell us what size of cup to drink out of sort of a visceral response, you have crossed a line of becoming the nanny state in the way that people just didn't like. >> bill: i know, you know, the smoke was okay. right? because second-hand smoke and all of that. but the drinks just seem to be, that was one step too far. >> it was a bridge too far. also, there is this problem, okay, so i can't get 16 but i

can get 12 and get another one? i mean excluded. mike is right about the obesity problem. >> that's something we have to focus on. mike has been a stupendous leader when it comes to public health issues across the board. it's too bad that this issue is going to be the one that maybe people remember. what he has done in public health has been stupendous in terms of so many different diseases and i think maybe it was pushing a little too far >> bill: i will come back to new york now that this ban is over. >> i will make sure when you get here we will have a case of soda for you. >> bill: great to talk to you. >> all right. great. eliot spitzer former governor of new york, former host here on current tv. >> this is "the bill press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> on any topic at any time this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current

tv. >> the good senate ben cardon from maryland joining us later in the program this morning. richard maxwell e-mails in hey bill, i am just up the road from paul ryan's hometown the jamesville, wisconsin. how in the hell this tolywonk got elected. these people are hard working, manufacturing union types. who can figure? well, again, you know, he is a flim-flam artist. he fools people into thinking he cares about them. he doesn't. glen k. says bill please don't give so much air time to the story about the election of the pope. it's not worth the air time. well, we are not overdoing it on the pope, i don't think, at any rate. we just told you this morning, there is black smoke meaning again, today, they have failed to elect a new pope. but they will have a couple of more ballots this afternoon. who knows? we will find out. >> this is "the bill press

show."

[ music ] >> bill: hey, good morning, everybody. good to see you this morning and welcome to the "full-court press" right here on current tv this wednesday march 13th. we will bring you up to date on the latest news from rome from here in our nation's capitol, from around the country. and give you a chance to sound off about it. tell us what it means to you and your family.

866-55-press, waiting for white smoke from rome. we saw black smoke meaning the cardinals have not yet decided on who the 266th pope of the roman catholic church will be. we've got our eyes on the smoke cam. meanwhile here in washington, d.c. president obama will travel up to capitol hill, the one mile from the white house, traveling up to capitol hill again today. he met with senate democrats yesterday. today, he will meet with house republicans which will be a total waste of his time and theirs because we all know what the house republicans are going to do. they will vote one more time to approve the paul ryan budget which was released yesterday, and which is a total non-starter, a total joke totally dead on arrival when it gets to the senate because it's the same as the last two paul ryan budgets, which destroys medicaid, turns medicare into a voucher program, gives the wealthiest of americans another tax -- yet another tax break and would repeal obamacare. it ain't going anywhere.

we will get into that in a and a whole lot more right here next. stay tuned on current tv. billy zane stars in barabbas. coming in march to reelz. to find reelz in your area, go to reelz.com

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say

anything. what the hell were they thinking? [ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation on your radio, and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> president obama continues his charmfest today coming up to the hill to sit down with house republicans. why? good morning everybody. great to see you this morning. it is wednesday, wednesday, march 13th, and this is the full court press. welcome to the program here on current tv on your local progressive talk radio station and whether you are watching or

listening, it's good to have you with us today as we tackle the big stories of the day here in washington, all of the buzz, of course is about the right budget release ideas and about the president's meeting, halfway through the day with house republicans and around the world. here in the united states, we are keeping our eye on the smokecam to see whether the cardinals, roman catholic cardinals have succeeded in selecting the next pope of the church. i am sure benedict, the 16thxvi, and it produced black smoke which means in their motion session, there was no clear winner. we don't know. we don't know whether herman cain still has a shot or not or whether joe biden is out in front. we don't know.

this is like primary returns. don't forget to give us a call. 86655-press. love hearing from you on twitter and facebook.com/billpress show, building up the twitter numbers and facebook numbers for team press here peter ogburn and dan henning. >> peter: hey hey, hey >> bill: phil beckert has the phones and cytrian keeps us looking good. well, looking okay. he's got the videocam. other issues have not taken a back seat at all. at least as far as joe biden is concerned, the vice president yesterday spoke to the league of cities at their national convention and he said, you know, we have a duty to keep going on gun safety and not be afraid of the nra. the politics have changed.

>> i know the deal. i know how all of us who are elected have been conditioned to the last two, three, four, don't touch the third rail. don't take on the nra. >> bill: in fact the vice president says we have a moral obligation to do the right thing. if we don't, shame on us. >> we pay an immense political price if we don't become the voices for those 20 beautiful children who died at sandy hook 75 days ago. >> bill: indeed indeed. it was good news yesterday that two more gun safety measures passed out of the senate committee which would provide more money to schools to help come up with plans to make sure our kids are safe which would provide universal background

checks. >> that's a real core of the efforts to get some sensible begun safety this year number one on the president's priority list. we learned from our guest, it's number one on the brady campaign list as well. coming up, senator ben cardon from maryland will join us as will john nichols from the nation magazine. he will be here in studio as a friend of bill. jonathan allen from politico joins us a little bit later in this hour as well to get into the ryan budget but first, we will take a look at what's happening in rome dan with the "full-court press." >> heard the words but first. >> that's it. other headlines making news on this wednesday, big news from mars, the recover curiosity's expert found the red planet once definitely had some of the under agreedients that could support life. washington post says this includes signs of water and

certain chem caddell like hydrogen needed for prim i have been life. it was probably millions or billions of years ago. it has been there for seven months. it will go dark for about the next month. nasa losing all contact with curiosity because of planetary alignment. >> they found signs of life. morning paper. people could have survived it. >> mars colony. >> fine with many people. speaking of sending people to mars, how about dennis rodman? he has plans to go back to north korea, the former n va star saying he plans to vacation with kim jong on this coming august. he reiterated he does not con done what the dictator does as a ruler but he says, quote, he is my friend. >> let's not push this

friendship too far. okay? he goes to a basketball game. all right. to go back on vacation and then say, i am not condoning this dictator is impoverishing an entire nation. right? come on. appearing with donald trump on "celebrity apprentice". >> take trump on vacation with him. >> pick up a copy of "vogue magazine" and see the first lady on the cover again. washington post reporting michelle obama has landed on the magazine cover for the second time. the famous photographer annie lebowitz. she tried to get her to do a more creation shoot like with other celebrities like having her reklein in a milk bath. she will just be wearing regular clothes, from the designer she wore to the inauguration. >> bill: i am glad the turned

down the opportunity top pose in a milk bath with annie leibowitz. big story here in washington is the ryan budget. we will get back into that at the half hour with jonathan allen with politico but meanwhile, we have to take a look at the other big story of the day what's happening in rome. you have heard the latest, no new hope. black smoke this morning. so, the morning vote of the college for cardinals didn't produce a winner. welch that because there is a camera trained on the chimney, the smokecam >> peter: i am looking at it. i have a direct clear shot at the chimney at the top of the vatican. as of right now fox news has the smokecam up all the time so that at any second you look at fox news, you will see the

smokecam. the media frenzy is out of control and, i think, totally out of place and totally exaggerated. yesterday, father tom rosica was interviewed on cbs news with scott pelly. scott pelley i'm sorry to say is in rome. he's got the papal fever, if you will. father rosica telling us first of all, that whoever wants to be in line is probably not so happy about it. >> i don't believe any one of them is standing up tonight and saying here i am. several of them who i know are the so-called leaders the group % are scared pelley: scared of

what? >> to be the leader of a world religowon of over a billion people in a world that's constantly changing in a church that suffered because of difficulties and scandals, a government that the church that needs some adjusting at present. >> that's no secret >> bill: adjusting. i will say. >> anyone who is going to come into this job knows what's before him on the table. >> bill: the church is a mess. it's a real mess right now. who would want the job? father rosica also points out how they keep the secret because basically, they throw everybody out of the cistine chapel and out of inside the vatican during this voting process, but there has to be some people there. for example, whoever puts the chemicals in the stove. right? to burn the ballots. they have to have people prepare the meals, they have to have people take care of them. father rosica says still even with those people silence.

>> there are 90 people who work on the conclave behind the receivers, everybody from the liturgical masters of ceremonies, the cooks in santa marta, the drivers of the mini buses, the medical personell. all of them have to swear the oath of secrecy. if they break that oath and they start talking about the conclave, there is an automatic ex communication. you don't fool around with that. >> you talk about what's going on inside there right now you are excommunicated. you are out of the church. still, don't you think it just seems strange to me that the networks are really treating this like a presidential election? we have seen photos and profiles of all much the candidates, the potential new popes. right? diane sawyer is in rome, reporting from rome. scott pelley is in rome reporting from rome.

chris jansing, lester hot for nbc. you know, i was so happy to see brian williams. i thought for sure he would be over there. no. he stayed in new york just to show that, damn it, this is an important story, but it's not as big as a presidential election. for most of the media, they are full-time on this, the cables and the networks for, you know, the idea. it's one church first of all. it's not -- i don't even think it's the biggest church. certainly the muslim faith is probably as big or bigger. buddest? i could double-check that. there are a lot of roman catholics, a lot of people belong to other face as well. one of many churches and a church with a lot of problems. right? a church that's beset with a financial scandal, a church that is beset with a still continuing priest abuse scandal.

just yesterday, the archdiocese of los angeles agreed to pay $10 million to four more victims of sexual abuse by priests in the diocese. it's also a church that officially, and institutionally doesn't recognize gay rights doesn't recognize women's rights, still treats women as second-class citizens and on many issues are behind the times. right? and yet, the election of the new pope is celebrated as if it's --by the media and covered by the media as if it's the most important event out there and is going to change the direction of the world. >> peter: i was stunned yesterday when all three networks broke in, in the afternoon around 2:00 o'clock, broke into their coverage to report that there was no pope. the black smoke had come out and there was no pope. all three major networks.

like you said, for this one religious organization, that's what they chose to break in with. my comment yesterday, i was talking to someone, is, man, i really miss christopher hitchens right about now. >> bill: yeah, christopher hitchens, who even dared take on mother teresa. >> peter: yeah. >> bill: what he would say about this. you wonder how much money is going into this whole election and this whole event for the church that is according to what we have heard broke and with a real financial problem. i guess the question is: don't you think -- don't you think the media is paying much, much too much attention to this conclave in rome? is it really the biggest story of the day? does it merit the kind of media attention that it's getting? 866?

the glory and the pageantry rather than talking about the real problems that the church has, rather talking about the fact that roger mahoney, a cardinal of the catholic church who we know deliberately, intentionally, knowingly covered up the abuses of priests who were raping little altar boys in los angeles. he went out of his way to shield them from police help, advising them to stay out of the state because if they came back in the state, they might get arrested. and this cardinal is in the cistine chapel voting for the next pope. why aren't we talking about that instead of who the next pope is going to be? 866-55-press. [ music ] with the year's largest selection >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." or our savory, new grilled maine lobster

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[ music ] >> this is "the full court press: the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> we will get back to the ryan budget in the next segment. right now, we are talking about all of the media attention on rome. maybe a little overdone. peter, what's on the social media world? >> peter: comments from twitter @btshow. wheezy says, as a recovering catholic, i find this a sham. they are good at hidetion. and irish boy says on the pope prom they pushed the false narrative that the u.s. is a christian nation.

also, march marchon says it's the difference between riftt annual and rit annual abuse. >> bill: harsh comments this morning. jason from naperville illinois. jason weighing in. good morning. >> how are you doing? >> bill: what do you think about this? >> caller: personally i look at the pope and i realize a lot of this tomt and circumstance may be overdon but at the same time, you are seeing the pope as a leader of a church that very much focuses on the center of the faith. so that being said, i see the pope as a way of amount of faith from a billion people. that ultimately leads to driving on policy. you see how john paul when he was put in place, john paul ii, you saw changes like recognizing past wrongs like galileo and

with pope benedict, you see the prevention of hiv. >> bill: whoa jason. yeah. i would hope we would see major changes with a new pope. the changes, i think, are a fraction of what is needed in the catholic church tom a just to modern times. i think that the fact that pope -- that every one of these popes who are voting now were appointed by either john paul ii or benedict xvi, which means there is no chance you have a pope who thinks any differently than they did and i don't see any choice of getting a pope to

move the church forward >> caller: thanks. i am addicted to this show. i think the reason the mainstream immediate intra is doing this coverage is every other day bill o'reilly sean hannity, accusing the mainstream press of being secular, destroying the values of this country. it's like the political coverage. they are so sensitive to being called biased and liberal with theirplic political coverage they say both sides are equal. see, we are not secular. we are very religious. >> that's an excellent point. i hadn't thought about that. that could be their way of saying, you see, we are people of faith. we are serious. we take the catholic church seriously and we don't just talk about sex and scandals and crime and politics. you know, we talk about religion. they are not fooling me. >> this is "the bill press

show." guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

[ music ] >> chatting with you live at currently.com/billpress. this is bill press show live on your radio and current tv. >> how about it? 33 minutes after the hour here on the "full-court press" this wednesday morning, march 13th, great to see you today. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol brought to you today by the american federation of teachers. you bet. the good men and women of the aft under president randi weingarten making a difference every day in the classrooms of america, and you can find out more about their good work at

aft.org. well, president obama heading up to capitol hill today. yesterday, pretty friendly crowd meeting with senate democrats. today, a little bit more of a challenge. maybe not such a warm reception meeting with house republicans covering event did on the hill including the president's latest charm offensive and the right budget released yesterday. jonathan allen for politico covers things on the hill. good to see you. thanks for coming in. a neighbor on the hill, too, we understand. >> indeed. everyone is lucky i didn't come in, in my running clothes. i was thinking about going to the gym this morning and realized you were televised >> bill: if you told us you were coming in, in your gym clothes. >> you would have been better dressed than most of the staff here here. >> bill: this charm of the day, can any good possibly come out of good of meeting out of the house congress.

>> if he doesn't there is no chance of having any sort of bargain. when you say "good," it depends upon what you thing is good. if you think compromising with house republicans is inherently bad, no good could come out of it. >> good point. obviously, this is a show from the white house that they are going up to capitol hill trying to find some deal-making space find some common ground. there are two ways to look at that. either they will find some comments or be able to say we did try. all all of these years we should go up there and talk to people and look we are not making progress >> bill: president obama went to baltimore and met with them on a retreat in baltimore and he got in this exchange with paul ryan about the very issues you are talking about. now, yesterday paul ryan made sure he got his budget out a day ahead of the president's visit. and it's pretty clear that the

house republicans are going to em embrace the paul ryan budget. >> absolutely. the next couple of days will tell whether there is resistance to that, whether there are some house republicans, ones that the senate might want to look at. the budget is usually hard to pass. that said, this version of the budget is so similar to his past versions of the budget that it seems unlikely that it would faith. in some ways, it's easier for him to cut spending this year or at least to get closer to a balanced budget in 10 years than it was in past years. >> i don't understand. obviously obviously, as a liberal, a democrat, there are all kind of things i find wrong but i am trying to find the strategic value of basically presenting the same bucket we saw from him last year and we saw from him the year before, which is turning medicaid over to the

states, turning medicare into a voucher program and repeeling obama kay. it didn't go anywhere for the last two years. it's not going anyway this year. why the same, same same same om bunt? >> the budget document hasn't gone anywhere. i would arrestgue and i think a lot of people on the right would agree with this: what you have seen from washington over the last three years despite the disfunction, kicking the can down the road major spending cuts which were embraced in the ryan budget whether or not -- whether or not they are a result of that and you have seen most them. paul ryan is winning on a policy standpoint. democrats picked up seats nat house but on a policy level, the republicans are winning, they are cutting spending and keeping

tax rates low person >> bill: what are the chances obamacare is going to be repealed? >> zero >> bill: exactly. his entire budget $5.2 trillion most of those are repeal of obamacare. how is he winning? how is he win? >> i think where he is winning if you see the see questration cuts, the lower spending caps for each of the 10 years, that's a huge victory for the republicans. you don't see spending cuts in washington. sometimes you see slower growth rates, but we are actually seeing some pain and so whether you agree with it or not things are moving in that direction, not in president obama's direction on a budget level >> bill: on a budget which is a combination of spending cuts and tax reform. >> right. taxes and spending >> bill: higher revenue if you will. so the senate, patty murray will

release the senate democratic version to. do we have any idea what's that's going to look at? obviously not like the ryan bucket but what do you know about it? >> the senate democrats are saying it will be an even amount, about a trillion dollars apiece. we will have to see what they are to see if some overlap with spending cuts that have already been enacted, what those spending cuts mean versus whether you are talking about current law or current policy. >> that's sorts of a budget mass nation, but rathermachinatio, but rather. or whether paper savings from things you weren't going to spend on. for instance, continuing a war in afghanistan, continuing a war in iraq, you know, eight years down the road. >> on the spending cuts, it's worth pointing out, too, paul ryan borrows some of those already enacted spending cuts in

his budget for example, the new revenue, if you will, from getting rid of the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest even though paul ryan can dhubts as a savings savings. >> hammering the president for cutting medicare and tep embraces cutting medicare by the same amount. >> bill: one of the questions that came up at the briefing yesterday at the whitehouse is whether or not the plan with contain entitlement reform which the president is saying, like the chained cpi. i doubt we will see that. do you agree? >> i don't think we will see anything that specific. the one thing about budget documents is that they are generally a bunch of numbers. what paul ryan has done that is different is come out with a glossy packet of information 91 pages or something like that yesterday.

>> that's unusual. usually, they just set targets for spending and taxes and let the leadership work out the details. i doubt we will see anything that specific from senator murray >> bill: jay carney said the president's plan -- the president will have a budget which will come out probably he said the week of april 8th. that's their target. everybody went, that's news. >> that's news. >> that's the first time they have given a date for it. we have the ryan budget. we have patty mary's budget. president obama's budget. what do they do? sit down and compare and move forward or -- i don't understand how you bring those together. >> well in recent years, it only works when the same party has control in both chambers of congress. usually, it doesn't work >> bill: yeah. >> what typically happens is the president puts his budget out first sometime in february. then the house will come up with a budget often based in part on

what the president has put out because where they have common ground, they will agree to some extent, the senate will put out its bucket. in theory, they will have a conference, if they both pass budgets and then come up with a document that is shared between house and the senate. >> bill: yeah. >> i find -- generally speaking, you would think that would be unlikely with one party in control of each chamber but there are some advantages to that. you can get a filibuster-proofed bill called a reconciliation bill out of a budget agreement. and that's really the chief benefited so that if you were able to come to some grim on spending a big grand bargain, without the possibility of a filibuster >> bill: we haven't had a budget for how long? >> since 2009, fiscal 2010 >> bill: we have been operating under the so-called continuing resolutions. >> let me spray these. the budget is a framework, non-binding. the appropriations bills that funneled government are the ones that they have to re-up annually

or do a continuing resolution. so the budget sets the parameters for the appropriations bills but it is not necessary in order to get those done. >> bill: yon than allen with us, he covers the hill senior washington correspondent for politico. a lot to talk, all of the talk here today in washington, d.c. has been about the ryan budget and whether it has a prayer. a lot of people are calling it dead on arrival. jonathan allen says, yeah, but paul ryan may be winning the battle of ideas. your comments, welcome at 866555 press here on this wednesday edition on the "full-court press." [ music ] (vo) tv and radio talk show host >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

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i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ music ]

>> on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show" >> bill: thirteen minutes before the top of the hour. in the next hour john nichols, washington correspondent for "the nation magazine" here for the entire hour and senator ben cardon from the state of maryland will be joining us. jonathan allen is in studio with you us for politico covering events on the hill and peter, what do you got? >> peter: bill, the got lost women voters in 2012 and laura bush knows about it all too well. she sat down with erin burnett

on cnn. her quote was, they are obviously examples of candidates that i think frightened some women. so she admits that there were got candidates around country that scared the crap out of women and they ran the other direction and voted for democrats. >> did she call it the republican war on women? >> she didn't but she didn't single anybody out. you have todd aiken and candidates like that, that yeah, it would be tough for a woman to vote for a guy like that. >> jonathan, i want to come back to the chances of getting some budget agreement. again, if you start from the ryan budget, i think the chances are pretty slim. how about the fact that john boehner and mitch mcconnell this week said -- i guess it was last week, that their -- they are done with negotiating with president obama. they are not even going to talk to him as long as he insists that more revenue has to be part of the picture. i mean where do you go from there?

right? >> it's a starting point. >> you know, out of the arena of negotiation. look, the president of the united states has been re-elected. his prior to at this point aside from the al truistic priority of helping the country which we all assume all of our leaders are trying to do. he hasn't spent a lot of time wooing. he wants a legacy. he is up there on capitol hill paying the associate visits kissing the rings a little bit of all of these members of congress. they get that. they understand what he is trying to do. if they get the since that he is doing anything other than being willing to give to get they will reject it as a political ploy >> bill: but they have to give to get, too. right? >> what boehner and mitch mcconnell don't seem to understand. >> right. they would argue that they have given a lot to get in terms of those rising tax -- tax rates on

the top end earners as part of this lasting -- >> over 400 ,000? >> right. right. it's certainly not what the president was looking for. certainly not what the left was looking for. they would argue that they gave something because it's against their orthodoxy. >> bill: not to pick a fight. i understand that's what they say. but there is just -- it's not realistic. to say you can -- i interviewed alan simpson last week. i asked him the flat-out question: can you fix our long-term debt and deficit problem with spending cuts only and and alan simpson said no. >> that's absolutely insane. for john boehner and mitch mcconnell say we are not going to have any more revenue they can say that but it's nuts. >> that's one of the reasons you have seen the president work around the leadership, why it's going to the membership because the leaders are during -- this is not a criticism of obtain and mccogspecifically but they are more followers than leaders. if their caucus is willing to move in a particular direction they will follow it there but they are not going to stick

their necks out any more. jaern stuck his neck out in august, 2011, both sides have different interpret assess of what went wrong there. but something did go wrong. he got too far out from his caucus for sure. >> right. >> he is not able to do that any more. >> not willing to do it. >>anding keep his job. >> he is between barack and a hard place. >> i haven't heard that before. >> that's great. >> mitch mcconnell has a reelection race in kentucky. he has similar considerations as boehner in terms of keeping his job. what you are seeing here is the president and the congressional leaders tacitly agreeing to say, if the president can move the caucuses, move president ground troops, the leaders will follow. i agree with your assessment. i think the president's goal here is to try to pick off some republicans who are willing to buck their leadership. he needs some republican votes

to get his bucket passed or plan passed? >> sure. i don't think you see those republican senators having dinner if there wasn't a tacit blessing from the republican leadership. >> let's not forget there is a much bigger agenda. right? immigration reform, gun safety. there is climate control room. do you see any progress on any of those fronts? >> a broad front. >> trans? >> there is small movement on gun control front in terms of background checks. starting to see some of that move through the senate at the committee level. >> two bills passed senate judiciary yesterday. >> so i think you will see something on that. the question is: what is it? if you are somebody who is in favor of stricter gun control do you pass something that you don't like that's maybe a quarter of a loaf and risk that vehicle going out the door without some of the things that you care about? or do you hold it up to see if

you can load more things on to it. >> chances better for immigration reform. >> at some point, yes. what that point is, i don't know. i think the budget talks right now crowd out the sun. nat way that allows lawmakers working on the issue to get farther along before their issue gets sort of center stage. if you are working on immigration, you can clear a lot of the underbrush and make agreements but at this reminiscent of healthcare in 2009, 2010, where that blotted out the sun and really, there wasn't any progress made on any other issues because that was the only thing that could consume the focus of the members of congress. >> bill: there doesn't seem to be a lot of attention right now to climate control. i don't see any movement at all on that, although the president's president's talked about it. >> to the extent that the eta can promulgate regulations, i think you will see that. that takes awhile. there is a long process for that. you are not going to see any movement in congress, the republicans and house aren't going to move anything. >> more likely executive action

on that than congressional action. seems like we just touched the -- skilled across the surface but it was good to have you in studio? >> my pleasure. >> good to see you. i will be back and tell you what the president is up to today. he's got a little more going on than just that meeting with house republicans, but that's the big event. we will be right back. >> radio meets television the bill press show, now on current tv.

current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

[ music ] >> this is "the bill press show." . >> all right. president obama busy schedule

today, gives the daily briefing and at 1:30 comes up to the capitol to meet with the house republicans in their caucus. then he gets back to the white house and it's like his day starts then. he will be meeting with secretary of state john kerry a group of ceos to discuss cyber security at 3:40. at 4:05 p.m., he meets with a different group, a group of business leaders on immigration reform then he and the vice president meet with the new secretary of the treasury secretary jack lew, and at 6:30, president obama over to the saint regionis hotel to speak -- meet with and speak to the new organizing for action group and jay carney has his briefing today at 12:noon at the whitehouse. busy day for the executive branch. we will be right back with another hour of "full-court press." >> this is "the bill press

show." come in now and sea food differently. visit redlobster.com now for an exclusive $10 coupon on two lobsterfest entrees.

[ music ] >> bill: what do you say friends and neighbors? good morning and welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv this wednesday morning march 13th. we are waiting to see this afternoon in rome time whether there will be any white smoke from the sistine chapel. so far only black smoke today meaning that the cardinals have not yet decided whom they want as the 266th pope of the roman catholic church. maybe later this afternoon.

meanwhile here in washington, d.c. our nation's capitol, president obama will be coming up to capitol hill today, second day in a row. he met with senate dlats democrats. today, he will meet with the house cran caucus. i think this is a total waste of time. nothing good can come out of it. the house has endorsed the rant budget which came out yesterday, the same ol' ryan budget we saw last year which destroys medicaid, turns medicare into a voucher program repeople obama care and gives another budget. why don't they come up with new ideas. this proves they didn't learn anything at all from the 2012 election. meanwhile, nasa telling us the

conditions are ripe for life on mars. oh, my god. that and more coming up on current tv. to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say they thinking? alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of

his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ music ] broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is "the bill press show." >> bill: >> bill: president obama heading up to capitol hill to sit down with house republicans for lunch. yeah. great to see you this wednesday, march 13th. it is the full court press here current tv and on your local roll station. so good to be with you this morning and so good to have you as part of the program. you are part of the program not

just me. the impact you and your family give us a call at 866-55-press. join us on twitter at bt show and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. we need help. we had to bring in a guy all the way from madison, wisconsin he may live in madison but our friend john nichols. i love it because you are here. >> the funniest thing is you and your listeners know that i often speak to you from my kids' school ground. >> yeah. >> the time you take a kid to school is when you are on e especially if there is something that is hot and you guys will call. i will be watching a bunch of 9-year-olds running around which is very similar to watching

congress. you and i were on jon fugelsang. >> yeah. >> on "viewpoint." you had taped your interview ahead of time. i followed live and i kept saying i agree and finally i just said, i love agreeing with john nichols. he and i agree on everything. >> i am sure there was a california primary in 74 where we may have differed, you know. it's been -- what you are dealing with here, you and i and i will tell the listeners. it's not like a mind-melt sort of thing. it is that if you look at politics for a long time and we have, if you look at it for a long time, you get a perspective. if you are going to speak honestly about it, you come to some pretty similar places. i am not being fur annual about it. i am very struck by the current fight we are in that we are ending up in a lot of people are

figuring things outs in a lot of the same ways. >> a piece of yours i read was the paul rya bucket and who it is aimed at and for that crowd, and we want to talk more about that, paul ryan delivered the goods? a facility for 99.9% of americans but for his audience he delivered the goods? >> i am amazed that so many political writers and political players are doing this with binders on. they are not recognizing paul ryan came out of the 2012 election as one of the few people ever put on a national ticket whose stature was diminished by having been put on the ticket. i am not kidding. a guy who never had any problem. in this year he was not only viewed as something of a drag on the ticket something romney had to explain, got walloped by joe biden.

his precinct voted against him even though it was one of the wealthiest. his city voted against him. his county voted against him. his state voted against him and he had the lowest reelect percentage of any congressman in wisconsin. he's got -- he's got rebuilding to do, and here's the answer. this budget is when you are in trouble, you go to your base. this is a go-to-the-base budget telling them exactly what they want to hear. it's notable on friday morning, he is the key spot at the ctac. >> bill: his precinct voted against him? >> his own precinct voted against him. >> his congressional district ? >> his precinct, his county his state. now, he did get re-elected to congress but he had the lowest percentage he has ever had in a race >> bill: he got his district, i guess, right? >> i think his district may have voted for obama, too. the bottom line is he has never had trouble -- where he got in

trouble was people started to realize what he is for. >> bill: exactly. exactly i am so glad you made that point. john and i are having so much fun. the rest of the team. >> peter: hi, there. take it away. i am good. bill peter ogburn, dan henning, thank you guys phil backert on the phones and cytrian on the video cam. what the about this ryan budget? more but first for the big headlines of the day. >> other headlines making news when you thought you had enough of her sara palin is writing another book, about christmas. the failed former governor and vice presidential candidate is writing a book called "a happy holiday is a merry christmas" being published by harpercollins this fall according to the hill defines the case for holding christmas near and dear to our hearts and by bringing back the

freedom to express the christian values of the season. >> i can't believe it. >> the war on christmas is over. >> she is steal calling bill o'reilly's material. >> from like seven years ago. >> she let's fox and still o'reilly's material. >> she will shouting at alan combs >> bill: harpercollins will give her an advance. >> she could be a ctac too. >> everyone but chris christie the conservative political action christmas. >> the current tree of iran is now considering suing hollywood over the oscar-winning movie, "argo" saying it is the poor trailer of the country is unrealistic. cbs reporting iranian media authorities have hired a french lawyer to figure out how and where to file such a lawsuit. last month, officials dismissed the ben after politic as

pro-cia, anti-iran. >> i would take that case to france. >> take a like from the movie, "argo f yourself". >> a new record at the ididarod mitch seevey and his 10 dogs crossed the finish line. he became the oldest person to win the 1,000 mile race at 53 years old. this comes one year after last year's record where his son became the youngest person ever to win that race. he was 25 at the time. granted prize in that that is he is taking home, 50,000 dollar check and a brand-new 2013 dodge ram pickup truck. >> bill: i have to say, i was in oregon for the holidays christmas holidays and we went up to mount bachelor to go skiing and for the first time, i actually saw a dog sled. they have a couple of them there for tourists just to take rides.

man, those dogs. >> they go fast. >> they were not happy unless they were running. if they had to stop, they were come on, come on come on. let's go. let's go. let's go. they were really into it. >> dogs usually die on those races >> bill: really? suites the ididarod. not too bring everybody down too much. sorry. >> bill: let's get back to this. so here, is what bugs me. okay? paul ryan has a reputation in this town for being such a serious thinker. last week, i almost threw up at the whitehouse briefing when jay carney said, we know that paul ryan, we consider him a thought leader of the republican party. look at the budget. what is so in that? what is so thoughtful about this budget that we have seen for the last two years? >> it may be an insult to call

somebody the thought leader. maybe carney was playing games there. there is this thing. i have known paul for a long, long time. he is a very genial things. it's one of the things if you are in a position and you are not a mean person folks often think you are smart. we thought he was giving speechless back in 2012. he was writing down what was written on the signs at republican rallies and made that his budget. it's like ban obamacare? yeah. get read of, you know turn medicare into a voucher program? you bet. find a way to cut taxes on the rich. this is bumper sticker slogans. this is not a budget that addresses the moment that we are in. the worst thing. this guy is a true believer.

he wanted to, you know, raise that age on medicare when he was with the republican caucus a week ago, you know, the deal on medicare is that what they are doing to do is so bad. going up to 59. right? so much narrower window. the truth of the matter is that paul ryan actually did have some ideas about how to balance the budget in 10 years. his caucus told him no way. we won't go with you on that. he has basically thrown whatever principles he had aside to create what he thinks is a popular bucket with republicans. it's based upon fundamental lies. we are going to get rid of obama medicare but incorporate the savings from obamacare.

in one breath, that's the worst program ever. we've got to get rid of it because it does horrible stuff. he is a little uncomfortable. he had gut medicaid turn medicaid back to the states. the states can't afford it. they don't have the resources and a lot don't care don't want to. in effect, it gets rid of medicare. medicaid. i'm sorry. >> medicaid, our program for people who need healthcare the most. >> if we can interrupt and say what he is doing with medicare -- with medicaid. >> medicaid. >> a lot what scott walker with

school funding. remember when scott walker got in trouble two years ago and attacked the unions and then he pushed all of the problems back into school districts and created fights? >> what paul ryan is proposing. >> sure. >> saying to states across this country, we are going to make you fight over whether you want to take care of people who don't have healthcare. >> right? >> it's an awful thing. >> he doesn't admit i am kidding medicaid but that's what he is talking about. then, again, he takes medicare turns it into a voucher program which is really the same thing as killing medicare because we saw this. we had an election about this last year. >> yeah. >> the american people said no. >> this is interesting about last year what happened, it was a great election. i love last year's election for this reason: we took the most prominent advocate for a radical idea and put him on the ticket.

right? the american advocate for austerity, the european approach of cutting your way through your economic problems which has failed in every country where they have done it >> bill: absolutely. >> they put him on the ticket and gave the people a choice. when he went on that ticket, it was -- they had been down a little bit, came on. looked like a relatively even race. they lost by 5 million votes. by more than 100 votes. it was a way bigger victory for obama than obama expected. >> three is he would lower the highest rate on the wealthiest of americans down to 25%. >> uh-huh. >> so again, that was a referendum on that last november. president obama kept saying, if you want the rich to pay higher taxes, vote for me. if you want the tax breaks for rich, vote for romney. >> you have named the big ones >> bill: i didn't get to obama care of right. >> this is where to me the true

cruelty of this is he says he does one of the graduate comic lines of all things. we are going to reduce spending by, like 5 trillion over this amount of time 7 trillion. >> 10 years. >> we are a growing country. we have a growing number of people, and we have inflation and when you take that kind of cut and leave a few things sacrosanct. right? leave certain areas you are not supposedly going to hit, what that means is who is going to get hit the hardest: poor children >> bill: you know it. >> a theme for the ryan budget like a picture of a little girl saying, looking up at the camera saying, mama paul ryan says i have got to give my lunch money to the richman. i mean this is a redistribution of the wealth upward. >> so what happened to this theory that the republican party has so marginalized itself it has to come up with new ideas and new out raichreach and this is the

best they can do? there is not a new entire in this entire document. >> this is an important thing to understand. much of the media is covering this poorly. they are not understanding that this party has a huge internal struggle between the karl roves and stuff like that that want them to at least soften it up a little bit and the base that believes what they say. what paul ryan has done is produce a duct he can take to the base knowing that it will never, ever be the budget. >> bill: the base is ctac and the base in washington and friday morning, he is the keynote speaker. he will be received like the mets eye a? >> he could literally probably walk on the hands of the people to the stage. >> oh, my god. all right. john nickels t washington correspondent for the nation here in studio with us. a friend of bill this entire hour, join the conversation, 866-55-press. >> this is the bill press show.

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you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. you got it 26 minutes after the hour on this wednesday, march 13th, very special day with john nichols from the"the nation magazine," my alter ego here in studio with us. before we get to your calls on the ryan budget and whatever >> peter: out of the state of maryland you have seen the signs that say slower traffic, keep right. a woman was given a $90 traffic citation this week because she was going 63 miles per hour in a

65 mile per hour zone and she was in the left lane. >> i love this story. >> which is where they say, you know, stay to the left. stay to the left if you are going faster or passing. and slower traffic, keep right. she didn't >> bill: i love that story but my experience is people going like 50 may be in the left-hand lane rather than 60. going too slow. they have that various up to 63. >> 65 means you are going to 72. >> that's the state patrol doing its job. that could be a tough one for them. >> a co-patriot of yours from madison wisconsin. hello, pat. good morning. >> good morning. >> i have to tell you what's happening in the trenches. i am an educator.

25 years or better i have never seen things like what are happening. we are having to cut because of scott walker and paul ryan because the sequester effects education, reading specialists, special ed teachers. we are having to cut our health benefits, prepare time. it is getting to the point it's just draconian what's happening and i work in a high-risk school district. probably one you can figure out and it's not madison. >> all right, pat. real cuts real people. >> this is one of the things that peeves me because a lot of people say obama over sold it. he said the sequester is going to be painful and it turned out not to be so bad. i have been around the country and i am hearing everywhere i go people telling tough stories. >> bill: absolutely. it's beginning to kick in. president obama did not oversale it. the republicans undersold it. we will be back. >> this is "the bill press

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[ music ] >> chatting with you live at current.com/bigpress. this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. you bet. 33 minutes after the hour, wednesday, march 13th, the full court press here life from urination's capitol brought to you today by the united steel workers and their colorful hard-working president with leo girard. i know he is on the job listening to or watching the program. united steel workers, north america's largest industrial union rep presenting over a million acting and retired

members. you can find out more about their good work at usw. that's their website, usw.org. john nichols washington correspondent for "the nation magazine" this entire hour as a friend of bill. president obama will be coming up to the hill today to meet with house republicans yesterday, he was on capitol hill meeting with senate democrats one of whom is senator ben cardon from the state of maryland. senator good to have you with us. thank you. >> thank you, bill. it's good to be with you. president obama, i think, laid out the circumstances well to the democratic caucus. there istre unity in our caucus behind the president's agenda. and it's very clear that he's going to stay firm and demanding a balanced way to deal with our budget problems. >> bill: i want to ask you more about the bucket. did he also talk about any of the other issues, immigration reform, gun safety?

did he have climate control room, a chance to get into a broader agenda yesterday? >> he was there. it was an open discussion. he was there for well over an hour. harry reid gave him an opportunity to leave at the appointed hour. he stayed another half an hour after that. so he clearly wanted to get engaged. he was very complementary of the ability to start moving legislation on gun safety on dealing with immigration reform eight senators are working on and that we enacted the vial lens against women act. he did point out that we have made some progress and progress is being made on our agenda and probably prior to issues but i think most of the discussion was around the budget problems and the fact that we are in sequestration i think we would rather see a more balanced way of dealing with the budget problems >> bill: we saw the paul ryan

bucket which is a copy of what he has done in the past i am sure it will be dead on arrival. today, senate patty mer reis release the senate version of the budget. what can you tell us about it, senator? how does it differ from the ryan budget? >> the ryan budget is a lot of smoke and mirrors. he claims they are going to get certain reductions in spending but doesn't give any of the specifics. it doesn't add up. it destroys medicare as we know it today. so, it really is more of the same. it doesn't add up. and it's not a credible effort to deal with our putt problems. you will see in senator murray's budget that will be considered by the senate budget committee a balanced way to deal with the budget deficit.

$2 trillion of additional deficit reductions over the next 10 years on top of 2 and a half trillion we have already done. it will be ambulanced 50% basically until additional revenues coming out of tax reforms, not out of rates but out of closing loopholes and having more fairness in our tax code. the other 50% is balanced on spending reductions that are smart reductions in areas that make sense balanced between defense and non-defense and mandatory and discretionary and i think you will find it to be a reasonable way to get our budget under control. it's a credible plan. >> this is john nichols from the nation with bill. i am interested in you have seen the senate plan coming down. does it protect the big 3. >> medicare, medicaid social security. >> absolutely. >> its true distinction from the ryan bucket. isn't it? >> absolutely.

>> the ryan budget it basically fundamentally changes medicare places our seniors at real risk of being able to afford reasonable coverage. the reduces benefits for so many americans. why? why does he do this? to protect wealthy taxpayers. >> as senators, you have come up with a way to put a decent budget together, keep us on the right track as regards stats and deficits and not assault those programs? >> that's absolutely correct. the manner in which the savings are achieved particularly in the health areas we do it by building on obamacare, by improving the way that we deliver healthcare so we can reduce the cost of healthcare. that reduces the cost of medicare, medicaid without

affecting the beneficiaries of medicare and medicaid >> bill: let me ask you about the sequester. have you -- we were just talking about this some people say president obama exaggerated. hey, what the hell? it's been two weeks already and, you know, life goes on. right? so is it as bad as we were told it's going to be? >> absolutely. it is. and we all knew that for the nation, it's a slope, not a cliff, so that you don't notice it maybe overnight. but if you are one of those workers who has gotten a furlough notice or you are a small business owner that has had to lay off people or closure business or you are a person who is relying upon the research being done at nih that's not being done today, it's a cliff. and if you have already felt it. so these are mindless, sense senseless. cuts that are done across the board without making prior to

judgments. there is a better way of doing this. this will have a tremendous impact on the mission of many agencies. i was at nih, national insfit duties of health. they do research for our country. it's not only important for discovering the answers to dread diseases but the basis of job growth on life sciences. that research is being compromised today. sec westsequestration is making it more difficult. >> senator john nichols, somewhat related although it's not purely sequester. you have had a long-time interest in saving the post office. >> yes. >> it strikes me that as we are talking about sequesters, we are talking about debt ceilings and all of this, the post office is in the sights right now and very likely to' lose six-day mail and

face real cuts unless congress intervenes. is there a chance that congress will intervene and tell the u.s. postal service not to do the six-day mail cut? >> you know, it's very interesting. the democrats and republicans came together in the united states senate on a postal reform bill that treated the postal service fairly. right now, they are being burdened by certain costs, retirement costs that are unrealistic. >> that's not what any other agent see or their competitors need to do. so what they wanted to be is treated fairly, to be able to do their mission in the most efficient way. they know that they have to maintain a certain level of service. otherwise, people won't use the postal service. six-day mail and the overnight mail mail. it's an important part of the expectations by the people who use the postal service. you start cutting this back, you start losing more and more

patrons. so, the bill we passed, a bi-partisan bill would keep the 6-day delivery, allowed these reasonable processing centers to stay open allow a more efficient way to keep neighborhood post offices open. but unfortunately the house of representatives just ignored it and didn't take the bill up. >> bill: one more case where, nothing getting done. >> it's a brutal situation because congress could act now and stabilize it and there is a chance as the senator suggested they don't. am i not right senator? we will lose saturday service? >> absolutely. i think without, the postal service will have to take some very draconian steps in order to deal with its finance. and at a time tragedy is there is a better way. and, the united states senate and in a bi-partisan way showed a better course for helping the postal service be viable be

efficient and be able to grow its face. >> bill: one more final question, senator, talking about the good senator ben cardon from the state of maryland. maryland is rapidly becoming one of the most progressive states in the nation, i must say, under governor o'malley. i think whatever 5th or 6th state to recognize same-sex marriage, marriage equality and now on the verge of abolishing the death penalty. i have to say, maryland is showing great strides of progress here and showing its true colors. we are proud of you senator. what's going on? >> it's been an active year. we not only passed the marriage awe quality but the dream act. >> bill: that's right. yeah. >> we also are acting not only on the repeal of the death penalty but sensible gun safety legislation. so it's been a pretty progressive year and i think a very healthy year for our state.

>> bill: absolutely. we can all be proud of that. >> you are frustrated on capitol hill, go back to maryland. >> i do every night. >> showing the way for the other 50 states. thanks so much. good to have you with us? >> nice talking with you. >> bill: ben cardon is a good guy. he doesn't make a lot of headlines. he is a steady performer. >> arrest they had that senate property, the candidates got in. everybody is like they are there are these quite well known folks. who is ben cardon? maryland nose ben cardon and he has this reputation on the hill and in maryland as an incredibly hard worker, who knows -- you saw it here, asking about the post office. you can't stop the guy. right? he knows all of the details. so that's the kind of bern that we used to elect. >> ben cardon delivers the mail. so does john nichols. we will be right back here on the "full-court press." >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can

question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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[ music ] >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: all right. we don't have any more smoke to report. >> no spoke >> bill: we have our eyes on the smokecam. >> the smokecam is great. that is the biggest political race. right? in the world right now. >> bill: who is karl rove's candidate? >> milan hasn't come in yet. >> we are waiting for the cardinal from wachashaw. >> the sweet sistene.

>> all right. ? >> charts and graphs. >> you know what? i bet if you went to vegas in the sports parlor. >> you bet. >> bill: you can get on who the next pope. >> the sweet sistene >> bill: wouldn't you love to win that bet. >> they probably have it. >> i am leaning toward the philippinefilipino guy but i like the guy from milan. he is pretty good. he is progressive on comicseconomics. >> bill: i am pulling for o'malley from boston. or 0 male from maryland -- 0 malley. >> my candidate has always been you know, one of the nuns on the bus. >> oh, yes. simone campbell. >> probably mine. >> ours, too. john nichols here from the nation.

what a street to have you in studio with the rest of the press team. we have been talking a lot about the ryan budget. another issue you and i both have been talking about and writing about, john, is -- and this is related. yesterday, senator -- i mean defense secretary now. we have to start calling him that, chuck hagel said he's going to have the pentagon review this new medal that was just created to honor drone pilots and give them basically -- those -- these are the guysats cia headquarters or in the pentagon with a little joy stick, you know, who fire the muscles that kill maybe terrorists, maybe we don't know. people in pakistan, maybe even some american citizenship. give them the same medals we give to combatants on the battlefield. chuck hagle says i think we better review. that, to me, is just -- >> ig hagle -- this is why -- >> not to review it but to give

it. >> this is why i think some people were so opposed to hagel. it's an interesting thing he makes sense. >> hagel is of that battlefield. he is the guy, he volunteered to do point which means he volunteered to be out front in the most dangerous position. >> yeah. >> he knows the battlefield and feels a sense of duty and understands what it means to volunteer to be out there. i simply think he is going to bring a perspective that we will rarely had in a leader of the pentagon. it will be controversial. i will say. i believe the guys sit there doing the drone stuff. i have read studies they have an immense amount of stress because they field moral questions and practical ones. but i think hagel is shining -- this is his subtle way in my view of shining light on some of these issues and raising questions. my sense is that it doesn't stop here. >> so rand paul raised some

serious questions about drone warfare across the board and what ourwhat our guidelines or policies are or aren't on drones. did he do the right thing? did he make sense to you? >> in a 13-hour filibuster -- something about filibusters, you have to be a showman to do a 13-hour filibuster. you have to have a little bit of self-absorption on top of everything else. and so in that 13 hours, he said and did things which i disagree with and that i thought were silly, but on balance, going to the floor of the senate to say that this chamber, this body of congress, has a right to check and balance the executive and has a right to ask questions to demand answers from the executive, that is a very american, deeply rooted constitutional action. and while i may not be the biggest rand paul fan, i fully believe and i side with wrong

widen who asked questions there. i will tell you in my view and i won't speak for him. but russ feingold would have gone down as a great progressi because this system of checks and balances is way out of whack in this country. bush takes a lot of responsibility for that. george bush through threw this thing completely out of whack. one of the things i said in the bush presidency is if we didn't hold bush to account, the next president would build on that. it would continue. i think what rand paul did was healthy. i would like to see more democrats tom eudall and rod widen. i think it's healthy for the country. we have to have three branches, not one and a half. >> bill: amen brother. boy, i could not disagree -- agree more. you have take rand paul?

>> rand >> bill: for raising these issues. otherwise, for get all of the nonsense stuff he said. we are out of time. it's john nichols @thenation.com or at nicholsuprising, raising hell. i will be back with a quick parting shot. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] the chill of peppermint. the rich dark chocolate. york peppermint pattie get the sensation.

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. [ music ] >> the parting shot with bill press, this is the bill press show. >> bill: >> bill: you know, here is what i don't understand: how did paul ryan get the reputation of being such a serious thinker. i mean come